While the internet is a great place to watch videos, play games, and connect with others; there are also many scammers on the internet who will try to steal your information or money.

Here is a rundown of the most common ways that scammers will try to reach you.

The Scams:

The Cold Call:

The cold call is one of the most common tech support scams.

Scammers will call unsuspecting victims from an unlisted number and claim to represent a well-known tech company.

They will then explain that a virus has been detected on the victim’s computer and request remote access in order to fix the “issue”.

In some instances, after access is granted, scammers will then change the administration password and lock victims out until a ransom is paid.

The Pop Up:

One other type of scam is a pop up. In which the user will be browsing an infected site and come across something similar to the following pop up.

In showing victims this message, scammers are hoping to frighten users into immediately calling the number listed.

The Fake Site:

In some instance, scammers have been known to buy a domain name similar to the site they’re targeting, and to make the fake site look as close to the real one as possible.

Victims might reach the site through Google or a direct link, and once on the site, scammers will attempt to steal their money or their information.

For example, while TP-Link does own tplinkwifi.net, scammers have been known to setup similar sounding websites such as tplinkswifi.com to steal customer information.

How to Protect Yourself:

1. Charging for Support:

While different companies handle web support differently, at TP-Link we have never and will never charge for support. If you are contacted by anyone stating that they represent TP-Link, and are requesting payment for support services, end the call immediately.

However, please note that TP-Link does have charges related to advanced warranty replacements (For more information see here.)

2. Only Click on Trusted Sources:

When searching for TP-Link support on Google, it’s important to only click on links that you trust. If anything seems off about a link, don’t click it.

Rather than searching for TP-Link online, one safer way to reach our support is to go to our official company website and search for support there.

It’s always safer to search for support on a company’s official website rather than searching for it online and potentially getting led to a malicious website. If you can’t find a company’s official website, try looking at the product, product packaging, or even the documentation that the product came with.

You can reach TP-Link support here. TP-Link’s home support line is 866-225-8139 while their business support line is 844-287-4762. If someone is asking you to call them at numbers listed than the ones above, chances are, they aren’t TP-Link support.

4. Prevent Remote Access to your PC:

We recommend refraining from allowing remote access to your PC unless you’re absolutely certain that the person or company you are working with is genuine.

One red flag when using support services is if an agent repeatedly pushes to try and gain remote access after you’ve said no.

At TP-Link, in some very rare cases, we might suggest remote access for our customers to make the support experience less complicated. However, our agents will not push you to do so if you are uncomfortable or tell them no. They are highly trained and can assist you in other ways.